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10.19.2012

Welcome back, photo viewers! Since we last met, football season is in full swing, I've had an NBCOT trip to Chicago, and my EI work has been picking up a bit. Today's theme is about therapy-type things for kids. I loved my school job last year, and was so fortunate that they had tons of terrific supplies for us to use with the kids, but I know that in many places school system and EI therapists are going on their own dime. It's no secret that I outfitted my EI kit with items from yard sales, which can be a great resource but uneven in findings. Here are some items that I found that are either cheap or sparked cheap ideas.

OK, we lead with the big guns. This is the not cheap one. This toy is called "Q-Bitz" and is available from MindWare for $25. It reminds me of an IQ test... you flip your cubes to match a design on the card, racing a friend at the same time. I think this would have been too high level for my caseload, but it would probably be a great release for a child with high functioning autism and good visual skills. If you wanted to grade it down and keep a visual challenge, you could easily make 8 square cards with the given designs, take pictures of them, and have the kids match the cards to the pictures.

Sometimes people think they have to spend big bucks to get worthwhile toys for their kids, and everything with the word 'baby' has a 20% markup. The popular version of the stacker now makes a sound with each ring inserted and sings a song when complete, but it can be financially prohibitive for some families or practitioners. But I found this pack of sorting size/shape toys at Big Lots for about $10.

The cheapest source of ideas nowadays is that series of tubes, the internets. With the rise of homeschooling and internet sharing, some great resources have come to light. File Folder Fun is one such site designed for teachers to create compact stations. Our district had a big focus on early literacy, and so when that could be incorporated into OT sessions, all the better. Pictured here are Candy Cane Color Match, Snowman Compound Words, Spaceship Rhyming, and Sunflower Sight Words. Also pictured in the background are hidden pictures from Highlights- also free and a great visual search activity.

If it's a good learning toy and can fit in a baggie, it's that much better. More items from File Folder Fun here (pumpkin words or not; cupcake size sort; past or presents; rock shape match; broken hearts) along with popsicle stick puzzles and Mat Man parts. The trees are part of a sequencing activity and I copied that from a teacher resource magazine- many teachers have huge collections of these if you have free time to go through them.

So this isn't kid-related necessarily... or is it? Just a helpful hint that if you're taking notes, it should probably be enough that you know what the heck you were talking about. I presume these are book pages, but what book? what subject? what year did I write this? Obviously it was a large and seemingly useful book, but no clue from there. cookbook? no clue.